As described by director Jamie Redford, ‘Happening’ is personal journey into the dawn of the clean energy era as it creates jobs, turns profits, and makes communities stronger and healthier across the US. Unlikely entrepreneurs in communities from Georgetown, TX to Buffalo, NY reveal pioneering clean energy solutions while my discovery of how clean energy works, and what it means at a personal level, becomes the audiences’ discovery too. Reaching well beyond a story of technology and innovation, ‘Happening’ explores issues of human resilience, social justice, embracing the future, and finding hope for our survival.

Happening features PUSH
Buffalo, the WASH Project and the effort to combat climate change
and achieve energy democracy in Buffalo's neighborhoods.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Climate Justice Workshop

Sam Magavern and UB Law | December 1, 2017, 10 am

Please join Sam Magavern of the
Partnership for the Public Good and a team of seven University at
Buffalo Law School students for a workshop on climate justice.

This Climate Justice Workshop will be held December 1, 2017 from 10am to
Noon at 617 Main St. (Market Arcade - Map) in the First Floor Community
Rooms.

Topics to be covered include:

· Climate change impacts on Western New York· The climate justice movement in Western New York· Electric buses· Community-owned solar power· Methane leakage from natural gas pipelines· State carbon taxes· Divesting from fossil fuels and investing in renewables· Making public school food more nutritious, sustainable, and just· How to grow and sell produce in the City of Buffalo

Free and open to the public. To reserve a seat, please email colleen@ppgbuffalo.org by November 28.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

A Time to be Thankful for Family, Friends, Food and More.

The image is Norman Rockwell's painting "Freedom from Want" (1943),
which is often referred to as 'The Thanksgiving Picture'. Rockwell
inserted a self-portrait in the lower right corner.

The
painting was inspired by the speech delivered by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt to Congress in his State of the Union address (1941).
Roosevelt spoke about Four Freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom from
fear, freedom of worship, and freedom from want.

Now, more than ever, let's be thankful for our Freedoms, and celebrate them!

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Polluters Must Pay their Fair Share to Fund the Needed Increase in NY State’s Renewable
Energy Investments
to Stabilize the Climate and Protect Health

ALBANY, NY -- New York State
must increase public clean energy investments by $4-5.5 billion per year
in order to exceed its emission reduction targets, according to a
groundbreaking report released today by the Political Economy Research
Institute (PERI) at UMass. This level of public investment would
generate between 145,000 and 160,000 jobs annually in the first ten
years, and could be achieved by placing a fee on climate pollution
starting at $35/ton of emissions in 2021. The study is available at this link.

"Governor
Cuomo has taken some good steps on climate and clean energy, but New
York State is simply not close to being on track even to achieve the
state's own goals for renewable energy build out, much less taking
adequate action to support global climate stabilization," said
Dr. Robert Pollin, lead author of the study and Distinguished Professor
of Economics at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. “The
Governor has the chance to show visionary leadership on climate change,
but he must take action commensurate to the scale and urgency of the
problem; this report lays out how."

The release of the study
follows on the heels of last month’s announcement from NYSERDA that a
total of 150,000 jobs currently exist in clean energy in New York. This
level of new clean energy jobs would be created every year with
increased state investment in clean energy, according to the PERI study.

“As countries gather for the 23rd U.N. climate conference, this report couldn’t be more timely,” said Jessica Wisneski, Deputy Director at Citizen Action of New York.
“Governor Cuomo has pledged to meet and exceed the minimum requirements
set by the Paris Climate Accord, and this report demonstrates how he
can do that while creating tens of thousands of jobs.”

The study
found that these clean energy jobs would cover a range of fields,
including engineering, construction, sales, assembly, management, and
office support, and that the growth in clean energy jobs would benefit
both women and minority workers, who are underrepresented in the fossil
fuel sector.

“New York State can protect our families’ health,
create hundred of thousands of jobs, and invest in ambitious renewable
energy solutions by making corporate polluters pay for the damage
they’re doing to our air and our climate,” said Rahwa Ghirmatzion, Deputy Director at PUSH Buffalo. “We’ve known it for decades, and now expert economists are saying it too.”

The
authors propose funding the necessary increases in state renewable
energy investment with a polluter fee levied per ton of greenhouse gas
emissions, rising from $35/ton in 2021 to $75/ton in 2030, which would
generate an average of $7.1 billion annually. The study assumes that
between a quarter and a half of the polluter fee revenue will be rebated
to households. Revenue from a polluter fee will also provide the
funding necessary to support workers transitioning out of the fossil
fuel industry and into the new energy economy.

The study concludes
that this transformative clean energy program can be accomplished at
little to no cost to consumers, because the average cost of delivering a
given supply of electricity from clean renewable sources will be
roughly equal to, if not cheaper than, virtually all fossil-fuel based
technologies.

It’s time to ask Governor Cuomo to walk his talk. The Governor has pledged to meet and exceed the standards set by the Paris climate accords.

A new report by one of the most respected climate economists in the country shows exactly how Cuomo can live up to his promises: by increasing investment in the transition to 100% renewable energy and making corporate climate polluters pay for the damage they’re doing to our health and our climate.

Today, let’s call the Governor and ask him to live up to his promises to be a climate leader. Our goal? To have over 1,000 New Yorkers call into the Governor’s office, and demand that commit to visionary climate action in his 2018 State of the State address in January.

If you're not at a computer, you can reach the instructions & Governor Cuomo by dialing 518-241-4793.

Dr. Robert Pollin’s report from the University of Massachusetts shows a just transition to clean energy in New York means making corporate polluters pay for the true cost of their emissions, and then investing that money in the New York we want to build: a state with good jobs, clean air, and healthy communities safe from climate disaster.

100% BUFFALO WORKSHOP: Will explore local solutions to the climate, jobs, and health crises affecting marginalized communities across Buffalo, with an introduction to Movement Generation’s Just Transition framework and the NY Renews campaign.

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Despite the Trump administration’s apparent affection for the fossil fuels industry, individual states are looking at the numbers and coming up with a different conclusion: The future belongs to pollution-free electric vehicles, and the sooner we get them on the road, the better off we’ll all be. And there are some important new studies out that give a hint of just how much everyone will benefit.

From Massachusetts and New York to California, state governments are embracing plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) and are setting—and achieving—goals to put PEVs on the road and removing petroleum-burning cars and trucks. States are finding that they can realize big benefits from at least three directions:

All consumers will enjoy cleaner air and better health as more polluting vehicles are rendered obsolete.

Multibillion-dollar savings

The latest in a series of studies by M.J. Bradley & Associates, commissioned by NRDC, project huge consumer savings in New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and Pennsylvania as more PEVs take the road in those states. An earlier report also found billions in savings for consumers in Massachusetts. The researchers conclude that electric cars and plug-in light trucks will have lower operating costs and much lower carbon pollution. The group also projects that all utility customers will benefit because additional utility company revenue from PEV charging can support operation and maintenance of the existing distribution infrastructure, thus reducing the need for future electricity rate increases.

The analyzed eastern states seek to be market leaders in Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) deployment. Most have signed on to a ZEV Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to put 3.3 million ZEVs on the road across eight states (NY, MA, VT, CT, RI, MD, CA and OR) by 2025. Additionally, they are promoting electric vehicle sales through purchase rebates and reduced-cost charging programs.

Paris announced it will ban all gas- and diesel-fueled cars within city limits by 2030, allowing only electric vehicles onto its streets, according to Reuters. The decision is the latest effort by the city to grapple with its intense smog and air pollution problem, as well as combat climate change. These concerns have already led Paris to impose temporary driving bans, no-car zones, and restrictions on cars older than 20 years.

France had previously set an electric vehicle-only goal by 2040, but Paris officials said the new rule will push large cities to phase out fossil fuels even sooner.

“This is about planning for the long term with a strategy that will reduce greenhouse gases,” said Christophe Najdovski, a transportion policy expert in the office of Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.

Cities across the globe have announced similar plans in recent months to reduce or eliminate gas- and diesel-fueled cars. Oxford, England, for example, announced this week that it will ban fossil fuel vehicles within its city center starting in 2020.

China will set a deadline for automakers to end sales of fossil-fuel-powered vehicles, becoming the biggest market to do so in a move that will accelerate the push into the electric car market led by companies including BYD Co. and BAIC Motor Corp.

The world’s second-biggest economy, which has vowed to cap its carbon
emissions by 2030 and curb worsening air pollution, is the latest to
join countries such as the U.K. and France seeking to phase out vehicles
using gasoline and diesel. The looming ban on combustion-engine
automobiles will goad both local and global automakers to focus on
introducing more zero-emission electric cars to help clean up
smog-choked major cities.

The U.K. said in July it will ban sales of diesel- and gasoline-fueled cars by 2040, two weeks after France announced a similar plan to reduce air pollution and meet targets to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

At outdoor parties in Paris and elsewhere, booming speakers and turntables playing the music are powered entirely by two large solar panels and two bikes linked to generators,
pedaled by partygoers.

“We can party all night, after the sun has gone down,” says Cédric Carles, founder of Solar Sound System, a collective that sponsors the events. “If the pedaling stops, it means people don’t want any more music.”

Each Solar Sound System site hosts public parties, which are often free, paid for by the profits they make from hiring out the technology for private events, from drinks proceeds and from sponsors.

The founders want their gigs to make the idea of alternative energy feel
concrete rather than theoretical. The choice of venue, too, often
reflects an ethos of community and sustainability.

The collective also takes the technology to schools and to international events, such as the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.

“Most rhetoric and campaigns about energy are anxiety-inducing,” says Carles. “They make people afraid, with talk of climate change and taxes. Here the idea is to have a celebration, to inverse this tendency we have to associate energy with feeling pressured. For us, energy is a party.”